Is the future of recruitment skills-based?
25th November 2025 I This article was originally published in What do Graduates Do? 2025/26. You can find it here.
Emma Moore, director at Gradconsult, on how a West Yorkshire project to match graduates with SMEs using a skills-based approach could be a glimpse of the future for recruitment across the UK.
Several large employers are already experimenting with skills-based recruitment, an approach that focuses on evaluating candidates based on their skills rather than on their education or past work experience.
In fact, the Institute of Student Employers (ISE) recruitment survey in 2024 found that 57% of large graduate recruiters expected to move to skills-based recruitment within the next five years. But for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), who make up the backbone of regional economies, recruitment often remains far more traditional.
At the same time, the rise of AI tools has made it easier than ever for graduates to mass-apply for jobs, leaving employers swamped with hundreds of near identical applications. The Graduates West Yorkshire project designed and delivered by Gradconsult in partnership with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority has been trialling a bold alternative: we’re seeing what happens when we use a skills-based approach to match graduates with SMEs.
More than 700 graduates across West Yorkshire have taken part in one of the UK’s largest graduate development initiatives, mass engagement that has well exceeded expectations, driven by really strong partnerships with all of the West Yorkshire universities. At the heart of the project are large-scale development centres where graduates complete a series of activities that produce a dual profile: their own self-assessment of skills, alongside independent assessments from trained observers. Each graduate is also asked to identify the skills they most want to lead with in their first role.
At the same time, SMEs across the region are invited to share the skills they need most in their graduate hires. Instead of sifting through AI-generated CVs, employers are sent shortlists of graduates matched to their skills needs. We now have a unique dataset offering a fresh lens on the regional graduate labour market in West Yorkshire. It captures not only how graduates view themselves, but also how their skills are seen externally and, importantly, how this compares with employer demand.
One year in and striking patterns are emerging. The top skills profile seen in both self-assessment and observation is ‘collaborative communicator’, suggesting that graduates not only value their ability to work with others, but also demonstrate it strongly in practice. By contrast, the lowest self-assessed skills profile was ‘selfmotivator’, while the lowest observed skills profile was ‘organised planner’. This highlights an important nuance: students tend to underestimate their own drive, even though it often shows up in their behaviour, while structured planning appears to be a more consistent development gap.
When it comes to matching graduates into roles, the data becomes even more revealing. SMEs consistently prioritise graduates who demonstrate ‘self-motivation’ and ‘collaborative communication’ above other skills. Every candidate successfully placed into a graduate role scored highly as a collaborative communicator, and 70% also achieved top marks in self-motivation. Interestingly, one of the qualities students were least confident about is the one SMEs value most.
Employers are already seeing the benefits: ‘Jacob has hit the ground running and proven to be the perfect fit for our business. He is hardworking, shows real initiative, and combines this with excellent attention to detail. The programme gave us access to the right candidate quickly and with minimal effort, the whole process is straightforward and valuable.’ - Gary Ryecroft, MD at Control Station Ltd.
For SMEs, this skills-first approach provides a way through the noise of mass applications, surfacing candidates with the qualities most relevant to their business. For students, it builds self-awareness, opens new opportunities, and gives them a language to talk about their strengths beyond their degree subject. And for the region, it points to the potential of skills-first recruitment to strengthen SME growth and improve graduate retention.
The early findings suggest that when you strip away CVs, job descriptions and degree disciplines, a more dynamic and accurate picture of graduate potential emerges. Crucially, it shows that the skills SMEs value most, initiative and collaboration, can be identified and evidenced even when graduates themselves don’t always recognise them. If West Yorkshire can pioneer this shift, it may offer a glimpse of what the future of graduate recruitment could look like for SMEs across the UK.
